Three Dark Crowns

Fans of acclaimed author Kendare Blake's Anna Dressed in Blood will devour her latest novel, a dark and inventive fantasy about three sisters who must fight to the death to become queen.

In every generation on the island of Fennbirn, a set of triplets is born: three queens, all equal heirs to the crown and each possessor of a coveted magic. Mirabella is a fierce elemental, able to spark hungry flames or vicious storms at the snap of her fingers. Katharine is a poisoner, one who can ingest the deadliest poisons without so much as a stomachache. Arsinoe, a naturalist, is said to have the ability to bloom the reddest rose and control the fiercest of lions.

But becoming the Queen Crowned isn't solely a matter of royal birth. Each sister has to fight for it. And it's not just a game of win or lose...it's life or death. The night the sisters turn sixteen, the battle begins.

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I enjoyed reading this book and recommend it to anyone who enjoys rivalries and supernatural powers. If you are looking for something more political, this isn't the series for you. The plot revolves around triplets who are being pushed to take the throne from their respective guardians. The series is reminiscent of Hunger Games with a splash of supernatural gifts. The character development throughout the series is great to observe, the plot is self driven and the entirely of it is wonderfully written. The sequel, "One Dark Throne" really puts a nice bow on top of the series. Overall I give the book a 8/10, the sequel a 10/10 and the series as a whole a 9/10.

I'm still not sure what to make of this book. True to the title, it was very dark--almost too dark for me. There were so many gruesome things. The whole culture is basically a massive abusive relationship. There's dismemberment, mauling, torture, and murder. I'm a bit on the squeamish side, and it kissed the line of "too much."

I didn't really connect with any of the characters. The low rating is because I did not get a good sense of anyone's personalities. For instance, I wouldn't be able to write fanfiction based on this, because I don't have a good sense of what even the 3 main queens would do in different scenarios. They were unpredictable because I couldn't get grounded in who they were. Katherine seemed like an empty puppet except for a few moments where she was passionate in lust or bloodlust, but these passions came from nowhere. I heard way more about Mirabella from the perspectives of the other characters than I was actually able to judge from seeing her myself. I liked Arsinoe best, but I still struggled to connect with her as well.

There were SO many named side-characters, and only a very few of them even mattered. I couldn't keep track of the side-characters in one of the Queen's storylines, let alone all three.

As with much high fantasy, there were a lot of world-building terms thrown in from early on, but they were not explained until at least halfway through the book, and even then not very thoroughly. I understand the desire to avoid info-dumping, but I was scrounging for scraps.

The "romantic" subplots were not, in fact, romantic. They were purely sexual, and insubstantial at that. It felt like I was watching PDA instead of actually caring about their relationships.

I just don't feel any sort of resolution, and I *want* that. I want to know how this ends because everything is so messed up that I have no idea how they're going to fix it. I just wish I could have gotten that resolution in one book instead of getting pulled into another series when I'm not all that attached to the characters. That said, I'm undecided whether or not I'll read the sequel.

The twist at the end was something I saw coming from the very beginning, but I had to wait until the very end to actually see this theory come to (partial) fruition.

Such an amazing book!! Don't be unmotivated by the slow beginning, there are a lot of characters and you need time to understand and link them, but once you do everything comes to place and you feel as one of them... The ending is by far the best part and you definitely won't see it coming... cant wait for the next one

The premise of this novel is fairly simple. In the world of this series every generation triplets are born to the reigning queen who are raised separately and must battle for the right to rule shortly after their sixteenth birthdays. They are all gifted in different ways and must use their gifts to defeat their sisters.

It's an interesting premise, and I was drawn in, but also not. It's kind of a weird custom, and I would love to know how it came to be. Otherwise, it's just kind of barbaric. Also can Joseph die? Please?

Not quite understand the hype of the book. the story rolls out between the three queen to be sisters. Of course, there will be conflicts and conspiracy. However, the story lines didn't fell together until the last 30 pages of the story. There should also be more political intrigues but that part turns out very superficial to me.

Three Dark Crowns has an interesting premise and plot. I was excited when I first picked it up, but it turns out that this book fell short of my expectations.
The summary got me hyped, but the book itself? Mehhh... There's too much romance in there for my liking as well as makeout scenes and love interests. I didn't feel like there was enough action, and I was often bored by the fact that nothing was really happening. Yes, there are some minor details/events, and maybe this first book is just intended to provide background information, but honestly? It was unnecessary and redundant, especially since the actual ascension year starts WAY, WAY, WAY later in the book. I couldn't get enough out of Three Dark Crowns.
Matthew and Joseph Sandrin are players, Billy is the only loyal boy, Katharine is a little brat, Pietyr is jealous, Arsinoe is strong-willed, Jules is powerful, Mirabella is perfect, and everyone else is irrelevant. That's really all you need to know about the characters. Everything they do is basically boring too, so you don't need to know much.
There were some things that I did like though such as the writing and the setting. I just hope that the second book will focus more on emotions and action.

This book is told from the viewpoints of all three sisters. You can sympathize with their trials and their desire to help their people, but you can also see how they are all being manipulated by legend, their teachers, their people and the island. Full of twists and turns, but complicated at the same time this book was hard for me to get into. I have said before I tend to be a reader who likes to attach themselves to a character and root for them--that wasn't possible in this novel. I just wanted the mess to be sorted out, but it looks like I will have to wait for the sequel for that.

What a book. Please don't be fooled by the reviews and ratings given by publishers because I feel rather cheated. It wasn't until the end that stuff actually started happening and the characters got less two-dimensional to me. The whole entire time, there were too many unnecessary names and people that just confused me, and there was literally no action. I expected a more "hunger-games" plot with a lot more violence and intensity, but this book just dragggged through "preparation" and subplots. If there is a sequel, I might just not read it for the sake of my self-respect and avoid putting myself through misery. 2/5
- @Siri of the Teen Review Board of the Hamilton Public Library

In “Three Dark Crowns”, Kendare Blake crafts an exquisite world of eerie magic and instant enchantment, with characters you connect with quickly. There was so much potential in this storyline: three triplets that must battle it out for the crown, each with their own specialities and powers. Unfortunately, the immense potential was wasted. Instead of the Hunger Games with fantasy infusion that I hoped for, I got a badly executed, boring plow of events. I expected that I would at least see the beginning of the battle, but this book was just a slow build up to Beltane, when the Ascension Year would begin. If it weren’t for the hook at the end, I would stop reading this series completely. I don’t know about anyone else, but I’ve always learned that you should hook your reader at the BEGINNING of the book, not the end. A slight disappointment but a meager read. Rating 2.5/5
- @jewelreader of the Teen Review Board of the Hamilton Public Library